List of homicides in 2015

This is a List of homicides in 2015, including homicide cases reported throughout the Birmingham District. At least 193 homicides were reported in the area for the year. Note that a "homicide" refers to the cause of death as determined by a medical examiner, not to the crime of murder as charged by prosecutors and adjudicated through the courts.

July 21: Kandi Murphy was shot to death during a struggle at the home of her sister, Tammy Carpenter, in the Eoline community northwest of Centreville. Carpenter was abducted by John Barry Hubbard, a former boyfriend. They were found a day later at a motel in Eutaw. Carpenter was rescued and Hubbard was taken into custody and charged with capital murder and kidnapping. Hubbard pleaded guilty to murder in July 2018 and was given a life sentence without parole. Hubbard's cousin, Gary Wade Rowland, was convicted on a charge of aiding and abetting and was sentenced to serve 16 years in prison. (report)

July 27: Tevin Rutledge, 19, was one of two men wounded by gunshot near the Alabama Power substation in Brent. He was taken to UAB Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. Two suspects were apprehended by Tuscaloosa Police following a high-speed chase which ended at the Woodlands of Tuscaloosa apartment complex. Manley Deontay Bray was charged with two counts of capital murder. His passenger was questioned and released without charge. (report)

July 27: Lequan Dalon Clayton, 27, was killed in the same incident.

July 31: Catherine Leverette, 45, died from gunshot injuries sustained at her home on Dogwood Drive in Brent on July 22. Her son was also injured. Her husband, Randy Leverette, has been charged with murder. (report)

May 25: Rocky Martinez, 41, was shot by his wife, Reba, in an apparent murder-suicide attempt near the Marshall County line. She also shot herself, and was pronounced dead later at UAB Hospital. (report)

June 19: Crystal Huie, 33, was found dead from blunt force trauma at her home on Dunnhill Road in Blountsville. Her boyfriend of three years, Donnie Wayne Brown, was arrested and charged with capital murder. (report)

July 8: Myron Brian Beavers, 51, was bludgeoned to death with an axe at his home at 211 College Street in Blountsville, and then robbed of his pickup truck and a debit card. Justin Dow MacNeill and Clifton Ridgeway were arrested during a traffic stop in Etowah County and charged with capital murder. MacNeill briefly escaped from the Blount County Correctional Facility in January 2016, but was recaptured and charged with additional crimes. He was convicted of capital murder in May 2018. (report)

September 15: Gary "Sambo" Hazelrig, 43, was found shot to death at his home at 1296 Deavers Town Road in Locust Fork. Michael Cody Dooley, William Lane Bosner, and Paul Mason Trull were arrested and charged with capital murder and first-degree robbery. Trull was convicted of two counts of felony murder, first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery, two counts of first-degree theft, and one count of second-degree theft in March 2017. He was sentenced to 75 years in prison by Judge Loyd Little. His conviction was upheld by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals in February 2018. Bosner was convicted on four counts of capital murder in August 2017 and sentenced to life without parole. Dooley pleaded guilty in March 2017 to two counts of murder and to several lesser charges. He was sentenced to serve two concurrent 50-year sentences (report)

September 15: Rasha Breann Sherrer, 36, was found shot to death at the same home.

March 28: Johntavious Brown, 21, died at UAB Hospital from injuries he sustained in a shooting near West 15th Street and Stephens Avenue in Anniston. Dominiquic Isaiah Curry and Breonte Nicole Young were arrested and charged with murder. (report)

April 13: Leaj Jarvis Price, 24, was shot and killed at Dr Jayprakash Patel's office near her house on U.S. Highway 31 in Jemison. Her husband, Eric Heath Price, chased her to the building and shot her. He fled back to his house and barricaded himself inside as police surrounded it. He then shot himself in the head, but was taken to UAB Hospital and recovered from the injury. He was charged with murder and making a "terroristic threat" by aiming his gun at others in the office. He initially pleaded not guilty due to mental disease or defect, but later agreed to plead guilty in a deal that resulted in a 40-year sentence from Judge Ben Fuller. (report)

October 18: Rachel Pedro, 48, was shot to death, and her adult son, Bamidele Pedro, was critically injured in a domestic assault on the 200 block of 3rd Avenue South in Clanton. Robert Fields Jr was arrested at a nearby motel and charged with assault, attempted murder and murder. (report)

March 16: Anthony Hale, 17, was shot to death and two other were injured by gunfire during a fight which spilled out from ClubStatus on Broad Street in downtown Gadsden. One suspect was arrested by Heflin police. (report)

April 1: Charlie Will Yarbrough, 82, was found dead of blunt force trauma in his home at Pine Ridge Apartments off West Air Depot Road in Gadsden. His daughter, Clara Charlene Yarbrough Roden, and another suspect, Jacqueline Nipper West, were arrested and charged with murder. (report)

April 7: The body of Judith McElroy Carranza, 60, was found near a chert pit off of Cove Springs Road near Aurora. Elizabeth Dawn Austin and Curtis Lee Austin were arrested in Panama City Beach, Florida and charged by Marshall County officials with her murder. (report)

January 28: Ellie B. Willoughby, 91, was killed when her car was struck on U.S. Highway 78 near Wal-Mart by a hit and run driver. Michael Lawrence was arrested and charged with manslaughter in her death. (report)

January 4: Timothy Johnson, 17, died from head injuries suffered during a confrontation with two people at his home on the 1300 block of 27th Street North the previous Friday evening. Stephen Franklin Rollins. (report)

July 26: Gregory Paige, 39, of Marion Junction, was shot on Alabama Avenue during an altercation. A woman living there who had been in a former relationship with Paige and claims he followed her home, was taken into custody. No charges have been filed. (report)

September 7: Bernard Gregory Strother, 48, was one of two men shot to death outside a metal building on the 600 block of Westlake Drive in an apparent robbery. Ten unlicensed gaming machines were confiscated from the building. No arrest. (report)

September 7: Richard Harry Evans, 47, was also shot in the presumed robbery. He was admitted to UAB Hospital where he died from his injuries. (report)

October 5: Leon Slay, 58, was found shot to death near his home at the intersection of Fairfax Avenue and 16th Street Bessemer. Five teenagers, Harold Mason, Rufus Clyde Jr, Javar Humphrey, Rashad Taylor, and Anthony Murray, were charged with capital murder. The five were also charged in a string of other crimes that day, including a carjacking and leaving the scene of an accident with injuries. Mason, Clyde and Taylor pleaded guilty in November 2017. Mason, the shooter, was sentenced to life in prison. Clyde and Taylor were each sentenced to consecutive split sentences for robbery and murder, totaling 40 years with a minimum of eight to serve. (report)

February 16: Antonio Redricks, 40, was found shot to death in his home on the 4000 block of 4th Avenue. Jodie Montez Fuller was arrested a few days later and charged with murder. (report)

March 4: Eric Dd Washington, 25, was shot to death trying to break up a fight at Edwards Street and 6th Avenue. Anthony Dwayne Hickley and Jamelia Nicole Brown were arrested and charged with murder. They were acquitted at trial in February 2019. (report)

April 6: Robert Antonio Howard, 36, was found dead in a wooded area near a vacant house on the 4000 block of 4th Avenue. No arrest. (report)

April 8: Kevin Hatter, 23, was shot to death in the front yard of a house on the 1200 block of 47th Street. He was injured in a shooting that resulted in the death of Amaju Coles in 2012 and his testimony helped convict Frank Sealie. Sealie was freed in March 2015 after Hatter recanted his testimony. D'Angelo Samuel was arrested on April 25 and charged with murder. Brandon Shantwan Moore was arrested on May 19 and also charged with murder. Cadarrien Jawaun McLemore was arrested and charged with murder, but the case against him was dismissed in September 2018 because Brighton police could not produce the gun and shell casings recovered as evidence. The evidence was found, still sealed, in October.

April 12: Edward Carter Tarrant III, 43, was found shot to death in a car at Huntsville Avenue and Brighton Avenue. James Tavares Johnson was arrested, but the charge of capital murder was dismissed in May (report)

August 3: Marketia Danielle Holiness, 25, was shot to death during an assault at a home at 1416 39th Street. No arrest. (report)

May 30: Mylira Elizabeth Generette, 24, was shot to death at a home on the 300 block of 18th Court Northwest while babysitting four children. Jason Maurice Jones, the father of the four, was arrested and charged with capital murder. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of intentional murder before Judge Clyde Jones, and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. (report)

July 28: Rodriquez Cordell Hall, 25, died at UAB Hospital a few days after he was shot at his home at Farrington Apartments at 2904 Creek Lane Northeast. He apparently interrupted a burglary in progress. The suspects fled in a beige or gold Ford F-150 pickup. No arrest. (report)

April 29: Christopher Antwon Brown, 29, was shot to death in the parking lot of a Pop N' Snack at 6920 Dr M. L. K. Boulevard near Western Hills Mall. One suspect, Willie Lee Brown III, came to the Fairfield Police Department to retrieve his vehicle, which had broken down afterward and been impounded. He was arrested and charged with murder. His brother, Daniel Jah Brown, was charged with aiding and abetting and turned himself in to Birmingham police. A third suspect, Derrick Deondra Mason, was arrested on June 4. Willie Lee Brown was convicted at trial in Reginald Jeter's court. (report)

June 20: Tamika Washington, 23, was shot outside her home in the Demetrius C. Newton Gardens housing project on the 5100 block of Myron Massey Boulevard. She was apparently targeted because someone thought she had witnessed a shooting earlier in the day. Antwaun "Bird" Rogers was charged with murder. He was captured by U.S. Marshals at a home on Lee Avenue Southwest in western Birmingham in August. His girlfriend, Whitney Neshae Wallace, was also arrested and charged with hindering prosecution. (report)

October 27: Keenen Tajae Morris, 21, was shot to death at during an apparent robbery at his residence in the Lloyd Noland Apartments on Lloyd Noland Parkway near Miles College. Cameron Green, Derrious Scott and Dre'Quan Tucker were arrested and charged with capital murder. They were released in August 2016 after a Grand Jury found insufficient probable cause to indict. Tucker and Green were arrested again in 2017 and charged with attempted murder for a shooting in Bessemer. (report)

July 17: Donna Michelle Hankins, 44, was fatally struck by a car while purchasing gasoline at the Murphy's Express near Lowe's on Walker Chapel Road. The driver, Crystal Shea Reid, was allegedly under the influence of heroin when she sped away from a nearby intersection and down the embankment. She was arrested and charged with reckless murder. She entered a blind plea agreement in Judge Virginia Vinson's court and was sentenced to serve a 20-year split sentence with five years in prison. She was also ordered to undergo drug treatment and to pay $12,500 in restitution to Hankins' family. (report)

January 5: Victoria Jeanetta Morrow, 34, was beaten and stabbed to death at her home in the Cypress Garden Apartments at 3124 Carousel Court. Her older daughter and a friend were assaulted and restrained, but broke free and called police. A younger daughter, 5-year-old McKenzie Mixon, was abducted by the assailant, who was her father. Jeffery Dewayne Mixon, took the girl to her grandparents' house in Plantersville, Dallas County, and turned himself in the same afternoon at the Dallas County Jail. The victim called Hoover Police Department when Mixon threatened her with a knife on January 3, and was granted a "protection from abuse" order against him from the Jefferson County Family Court the next day, a day before he killed her. Mixon was returned to Hoover to face the murder charge. He pleaded guilty to capital murder and was sentenced by Judge Theresa Pulliam to life without parole. (report)

March 20: Ryan Alexander Moore, 30, was shot to death in a unit at the Running Brook Condominiums. Cody Allen Pike initially reported that he had shot an intruder, but investigators learned that Moore was a coworker and frequent guest rather than an unknown intruder, and charged Pike with murder. Pike requested a hearing under Alabama's "Stand Your Ground" law, but was unsuccessful. He pleaded guilty to murder in December 2018 and Judge Laura Petro gave him a 20-year sentence, with a minimum of three years served. (report)

September 5: Xavier Montrez Beasley, 25, an employee of Home Depot on U.S. Highway 280, was shot to death in the parking lot while leaving work in the early morning hours. It appears to have been a targeted killing. The shooter fled on foot. Kareem Dacar Gaymon, a former co-worker, was arrested in October and charged with capital murder. He was indicted by a grand jury in March 2016. (report)

October 28: Elizabeth Brown, 51, was shot to death by her boyfriend, Jimmy Edward Seritt, 56, at the home they shared on Colony Lane in the Deer Valley subdivision. Seritt also killed himself. (report)

November 8: Tawanda Denise Thomas, 40, was shot to death during an apparent family dispute inside a unit at the Alpine Village Apartments on Lorna Road. Her son, Devarta Dedre Thomas, was arrested and charged with murder. He was indicted by a grand jury in May 2016. (report)

February 2: Michael Robertson, 50, was killed by a shotgun blast to the chest while attempting to enter a home on the 500 block of Hagbush Road, off of Overton Road. The homeowner, who lives in a trailer behind the vacant house, was acquainted with the victim and was taken into custody as part of the investigation. No charges have been filed. (report)

August 1: Abdul Malek Al-Sabahi, 52, of Hoover was shot to death at a home on the 5700 block of 14th Street South where he was believed to have been operating an illegal gambling hall. Antonio Darnell Crawford and Edward Mack Jr were arrested in February 2016 and charged with capital murder. (report)

June 28: Doris Jean Hutcheson, 49, was found shot to death with her two children at their home at 5928 Coleman Lake Road. Her husband, Steven "Hut" Hutcheson, has been charged with capital murder in their deaths. He remains at large. (report)

June 28: Kimberly Hutcheson, 14, was found shot to death in the same incident.

June 28: Peyton Hutcheson, 11, was found shot to death in the same incident.

February 18: Michael Earl Reese, 40, was found shot to death at his home on the 600 block of Banks Street. The house appeared ransacked, but there was no sign of forced entry or theft. Reese's wife, Cindy Kaye Henderson Reese, and her boyfriend, Jeffery David Brown, senior pastor of Sardis Baptist Church, were arrested in March and charged with capital murder. Brown pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter and accepted a 20-year sentence in exchange for his testimony against Mrs Reese. She was convicted at trial in December 2016 and sentenced to 40 years in prison by Judge Tommy Nail. In 2019 she was transferred to the Birmingham Women's Work Center, but the transfer was reversed after protest. (report)

January 6: Beverly Carole Doran, 48, was found dead in her home on the 1000 block of Birmingham Street. Tabitha McDaniel, Matthew Weston Carden and Alex Maurice Brown were arrested and charged with capital murder. Another suspect was taken into custody and was charged with other related crimes. The motive was allegedly a drug debt. McDaniel, the alleged dealer, pleaded guilty to murder and was given a life sentence. Brown pleaded guilty with an agreement to serve 20 years. Carden fled to Florida after cutting off his electronic monitor. He was recaptured and his trial before judge Tracie Todd is pending. (report)

March 14: Ronnie Anthony Brooks, 26, died after being shot by a homeowner during an attempted burglary on the 200 block of Springdale Road. The incident is under investigation, but no charges are expected. (report)

Unincorporated areas

March 7: Jeffrey Lee Allred, 31, a passenger, was killed when the Chevrolet Silverado driven by Charles Brandon Lemley veered into a bridge support on I-59 three miles south of Bessemer. Lemley, who was speeding and driving under the influence, was charged with manslaughter in Allred's death. (report)

March 8: Kenneth Brown, 61, was shot to death during a dispute over a card game inside a home on the 400 block of Morgan Road, near Bessemer. Another man was injured. Stephen Franklin Rollins was taken into custody at the scene and charged with capital murder and attempted murder. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter and attempted murder in February 2018 and was sentenced by Judge Reginald Jeter to serve 20 years in prison. (report)

March 23: Jodi Deann Fallowfield, 33, was shot while sitting in the driver's seat of a pick-up truck on Shady Grove Road near Village Creek in Maytown. She had driven to the location with a friend to collect a debt. The friend fled when Fallowfield was shot, and then returned to drive her to UAB Hospital where she was pronounced dead. Russell Lee Williamson was arrested at his home on the 4900 block of Karen Lane and charged with capital murder and attempted murder. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole (report)

June 8: Rodney Allen Canterberry, 42, was found shot to death near the passenger side of a Jeep abandoned in a field on the 7400 block of Coleman Road near Morris. His former girlfriend, Jana Nicole Friese (Dobbs), and her current boyfriend, Patrick Wayne Logan, were arrested and charged with capital murder in the apparent ambush. Liese pleaded to felony murder and was given a 20 year sentence, with a minimum of five years served. She testified against Logan, who was convicted of capital murder in September 2018. (report)

July 7: Khoeum Chen, 69, was killed when her Chevrolet Aveo was hit head-on by another vehicle on the southbound lane of Alabama State Highway 79 near Bradford-Hopewell Road north of Pinson. William Andrew Baty was determined to have been under the influence of an undisclosed substance and was charged with criminally negligent homicide. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of reckless manslaughter before Judge Stephen Wallace in January 2019 and was given a 173 month split sentence, with a minimum of 27 months served and 36 months of supervised probation. (report)

August 3: Jettie Ray Adams, 3, died at Children's Hospital from injuries suffered by child abuse at her home in Trafford. Misty Lynn Wright and Johnathon Wayne Talley were arrested and initially charged with capital murder. When prosecutors learned of conflicting evidence possibly implicating another adult at the house, those charges were dismissed and Talley and Wright were charged with aggravated child abuse. Four other children living with them were placed in state custody. (report)

August 7: Miranda Michelle Lynch, 34, was found bludgeoned to death on the bathroom floor of her mobile home on the 5800 block of Diane's Drive near Bessemer after a reported domestic fight. Karen Lee Kirby, Susan Otts and Tamara Giarrusso were arrested and charged with kidnapping and capital murder. They apparently held Lynch hostage in order to attempt to get access to her critically-injured boyfriend's food stamp benefits. Kirby pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of intentional murder and was sentenced to life in prison. Otts pleaded guilty to second degree kidnapping and was given a 15-year suspended sentence. The charges against Giarrusso were dropped. (report)

December 21: Travis Clifford Hawkins, 42, was shot to death outside his house on Mountain Drive in Fultondale by a younger family member during a family dispute. No charges have yet been filed. (report)

April 28: Gene Ward Jr, 61, was found shot to death at his home on the 2500 block of Shelby County Highway 93 in Helena in an apparent domestic incident. His son, Justin Taylor Ward, was arrested and charged with murder. Justin Ward originally pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease, but pleaded guilty in 2017 and was sentenced to life in prison. (report)

July 5: The badly-burned body of Anthony Shane Gibson, 22, who had been missing for three days, was found in a wooded area off of Markeeta Road in Leeds. A car belonging to his grandmother that he was driving was recovered in Indiana when siblings Candie Renee Zito and Cory Zito led Daviess County sheriff's deputies on a 20-mile chase from their grandmother's house in Montgomery, Indiana. They were both already wanted on outstanding warrants, and both were badly injured when the chase ended in a crash through a wooded embankment. Candie and Cory Zito were indicted in Shelby County for Gibson's murder in February 2016. Both also face resisting law enforcement and possession of stolen property charges in Indiana.(report)

July 11: Haleigh Danielle Green, 18, was found dead near her car off of Shelby County Road 315 near Columbiana. She had been reported missing five days earlier. Demarcus Lamar Means was captured on July 21 in Los Angeles, California and charged with capital murder. He pleaded guilty in June 2019 to felony murder and sentenced to life in prison. (report)

July 31: William Neff, 19, died from blunt force trauma suffered in an assault at "The Slab" near Marvel. 16-year-old Eric Matthew Blackerby was arrested and charged with murder. He was convicted in Judge William Bostick III's court in August 2017 and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. (report)

April 11: Keiria Reynolds, 18, was shot to death during a home invasion on South Church Avenue in Sylacauga. No arrest. (report)

May 16: Carrie Michelle Ingram, 34, was stabbed at her home on Center Hill Road in Sylacauga and pronounced dead soon later at Coosa Valley Medical Center. Her boyfriend, Edmund Jeremiah Woods, Jr, was arrested and charged with murder.

June 19: Doyle Ivey Ingram, 66, was found dead from trauma in his pickup truck off Nottingham Road near Alpine. Cecil Rashad Chappell, a corrections officer at the Talladega County Jail who had been involved in a business venture with Ingram, was arrested and charged with murder. (report)

January 25: Ray Anthony Cannon, 58, was beaten and shot at his home on Half Dollar Road in Fosters. Ronald Jenkins and Adam Terry were arrested and charged with his murder in September 2015. (report)

May 9: Roger Alan Gregg, 55, was stabbed to death, along with his ex-wife, at a home on Crooked Creek Drive in Buhl. His girlfriend, Angel Michelle Jones, was arrested at the scene and charged with capital murder. She pleaded guilty to felony murder in Allen May's court. She was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. (report)

May 9: Margaret Louise "Missy" Hutchins, 53, was fatally wounded in the same incident.

June 3: Sara Tonnemacher, 25, was struck by a car while bicycling on Tuscaloosa County Highway 216. The driver did not stop and has not been found. Governor Robert Bentley's office has offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to a conviction. (report)

June 19: Rosa Busby, 60, was found shot to death next to her husband in an apparent murder-suicide on Greenview Drive in Tuscaloosa. (report)

August 20: Jeffory Ray Tevis, 50, was shot to death during a struggle with Tuscaloosa Police Department officers responding to a disturbance call at an apartment complex on University Boulevard East. Tevis had apparently injured himself during a "mental episode" and rushed an officer with a heavy metal spoon before he was shot. The incident is under investigation. (report)

August 22: Emma Kate Jones, 11, was killed when her father's Mitsubishi 3000 GT struck a fence near Munny Sokol Park in Northport. The father, Bradley Shane Jones, was initially charged with possession of a controlled substance. In October he was also charged with manslaughter and driving under the influence. (report)

August 24: Gregorie Somerville, 25, was found dead in a car at Aspen Village Apartments at 2201 48th Street East. He was apparently lured into an ambush on the pretense of meeting a drug buyer. Marquell Underwood, Trevoris Sheppard and Samuel Sanders were arrested and charged with capital murder. (report)

September 19: Catherine Virgona, 23, was killed when the SUV she was riding in struck a guardrail on I-359 near I-20/59 in Tuscaloosa. The driver, Jeffrey Caleb Hoggle, was charged with manslaughter. (report)

November 9: Samantha Christine Payne, 29, was found dead in a wooded area off South Sandy Road in the Talladega National Forest south of Duncanville. Michael David Belcher, Chylli Bruce, Marcus King George, Alyssa Sue Watson, and Stephen George were arrested and charged with murder. Chylli Bruce and Stephen George pleaded guilty in exchange for reduced charges and cooperation. Belcher, the alleged ringleader, was convicted of capital murder and given a death sentence. (report)

March 29: Jimmy Walker died from a gunshot wound to the chest and was found on Garvie Lee Drive outside Jasper. No arrest. (report)

November 28: An unnamed male was killed during a home invasion robbery on Tate Road near Blackwater Creek north of Jasper. A female victim was injured and recognized the attacker, who has been taken into custody. (report)